This edition of the playlist is brought to you by my recent trip to Washington DC where I laced up my Brooks Ghosts and ran the Cherry Blossom ten-miler. Despite my best efforts of trying to win the race (I came up roughly 13-some odd thousand people short) and the blisters on my feet (which never had happened before), it was still a great day to explore the sights of the Nation’s Capitol at a ten-minute per mile pace.
Ex Hex – New Kid
With my run happening in DC, I wanted to load up a playlist with some tracks of bands in the area. It was a no brainer to include a few tunes by Ex Hex, the project spearheaded by the legendary Mary Timony. “New Kid” has everything I’m looking for in a song to run to. Like most Garage Rock in its truest form, it has very little buildup and just drives the whole tune through. Since its release in 2014, “New Kid” has made quite a few playlists to help me get a sweat going. I highly recommend you do the same if you crave such sweaty delights. Although Ex Hex have only released two albums so far, both are excellent rock records.
Miley Cyrus – Midnight Sky
A day or two after the run, I was using the hotel’s gym to give my aching legs a nice shakeout. While churning away on an elliptical machine, I had noticed a damn catchy beat bleeding into whatever dumb podcast I was listening to at that time. It was loud and it sounded rather overproduced and it was relentlessly playing over the gym’s speakers. In other words, I was hooked. A quick Shazam told me that it was “Midnight Sky” by Miley Cyrus, a sorta undiscovered song at *checks notes* 224 MILLION views on YouTube. Guys, you should really check this song out before it gets huge. I shudder at the thought of reducing music to saying “it sounds like the 80s!”, but “Midnight Sky” was hitting those notes for me and after multiple replays of the song post-Shazaming, got me feeling like I was living in a movie montage of that decade. Burning 300 calories on sore legs never felt so good.
imeanttolisten.com 